06/01/2007: NSC's General Guidelines for EB-2 Educational Requirements and EB-3 Education Requirements [Retracted]
[Post Script 06/07/2007: The AILA NSC Liaison Committee released a clarification that (1) the involved liaison issue is related only, repeat only to the EB-2 and Master's degree question and any statement in this posting on "Bachelor's degree equivalent" issues relating to the 3-year degree is not necessarily acceptable as the NSC appears to continuously require a U.S. bachelor's degree or single sources of foreign equivalent degree, not foreign equivalent education; (2) there is "no fixed rule" the NSC has adopted on these issues; and (3) NSC has not reversed its prior position on requiring single sources degrees for bachelor's degree equivalency.]
According to the AILA-NSC Liaison minutes of 04/12/2007, the following standards generally applies in determining EB-2 requirement:
(1) U.S. master’s degree – as long as it is in the field required no additional documents would be required
(2) 4 yr bachelor’s degree + 2 yr master’s degree (India) – with degrees in the same or related fields this will generally be considered the equivalent to a U.S. master’s degree with no additional documents required
(3) 3 yr bachelor’s degree + 3 yr master’s degree (India) – with degrees in the same or related fields this will generally be equivalent to a U.S. master’s degree with no additional documents required
(4) 3 yr bachelor’s degree + 1 yr postgraduate diploma + 2 yr master’s degree (India) with degrees in the same or similar field : generally be considered the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree plus one additional year of education so the beneficiary would also need to have 5 yrs progressive experience. If the postgraduate diploma is determined to be progressive postgraduate education that is a continuation of the 3 yr bachelor’s degree it is possible that this would be considered the equivalent to a U.S. Master’s degree and there would be no need to establish 5 yrs progressive experience.
(5) 3 yr bachelor’s degree + 2 yr master’s degree (India) – Generally this would be the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree + 1 year and would require 5 yrs progressive experience to qualify under the 2nd preference category: However, foreign credential evaluation using the following additional evidence could make it to EB-2, Master's degree equivalent:
Examples of comparable U.S. master’s degree programs requiring only one year to complete (indicating that a total of 5 years of undergraduate and graduate level education is sufficient); or
Credential evaluations that provide a detailed comparison of credit hours completed by the beneficiary for the 3 year bachelor’s degree program with credit hours required by comparable U.S. bachelor’s degree programs.
(6) 3 yr bachelor’s degree + 2 yr master’s degree (India) + 5 yrs progressive, post-master’s degree experience – Generally the educational degrees would be determined to be the equivalent of a U.S. bachelor’s + 1 year and the beneficiary would meet the statutory requirement
(7) 3 yr bachelor’s degree + 2 yr master’s degree + 1 yr postgraduate diploma (India) – Generally this would be the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree + 1 year and would require 5 yrs progressive experience to qualify under the 2nd preference category. If the postgraduate diploma is determined to be progressive postgraduate education that is a continuation of the 3 yr bachelor’s degree or the 2yr master’s degree it is possible that this would be considered the
equivalent to a U.S. Master’s degree and there would be no need to establish 5 yrs progressive experience
(8) If a master’s degree is required and the beneficiary does not have a U.S. master’s degree in the specified field of study the petitioner should be prepared to submit sufficient documentation to establish that the education that the beneficiary possesses is the equivalent to a U.S. master’s degree in the required field.
[Matthew Oh Note: The positions of the NSC for the situations in (4), (5), (6), and (7) appear to have loosen up substantially and very flexible and accomodative. Very good news. We thank the NSC leaders for the new policy on these issues.]
Education Requirement in Labor Certification Not Restricted to U.S. Bachelor or Foreign Equivalent Degree: Following will be acceptable for "Skilled Worker" catogory of EB-3:
(1) Will accept a combination of degrees or diplomas;
(2). Will accept 3 or 4 yr degrees;
(3). Will accept education evaluation prepared by a qualified credential
evaluation service;
(4) Will accept educational equivalency evaluation prepared by qualified
evaluation service or in accordance with 8 CFR § 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(D);
(5) Will accept a bachelor’s equivalent based on a combination of
education as determined by a professional evaluation service;
(6) One year of experience in the job offered will substitute for one year of
education toward a bachelor’s degree;
(7) Will accept single degree or any combination of degrees, diplomas or
professional credentials determined to be equivalent by a qualified
evaluation service.
Since there is no difference between the Professional EB-3 and the Skilled Worker EB-3 for the purpose of the immigrant visa numbers in the Visa Bulletin, sometimes it can be very important that the labor certification is drafted such a way that if the alien cannot meet the Professional EB-3, the alien has a backup of Skilled Worker EB-3 so that EB-3 I-140 petition is not denied.
[Matthew Oh Note: Again, the NSC has loosen up somewhat on this issue, accomodating a part of Grace Korean Methodist Church decision on this Skilled Worker issue, which the NSC one time applied very narrow reading of the langugae in the labor certfication application and denied I-140 petition unless the skilled worker option was met and requested by the petition. We want to reiterate our "thanks" to the NSC leaders for taking a reasonable interpretation of the regulations.]
Neeraj
Read situation (5) in its entirety
